Gundam Build Fighters - Ash and Snow
by Nekronous
Summary: Several years after the victory of Iori Sei and Reiji, gunpla has become a worldwide phenomenon, loved by people internationally. Taijin Sakamoto is not one of these people- with gunpla robbing him of his grades and tossing him into a state of depression. His friends couldn't save him, but he then meets Kosetsu, a beautiful and talented gunpla fighter, who changes his life forever.
1. Prolouge

**Gundam Build Fighters : Snow and Ash Prolouge**

After the victory of Iori Sei and Reiji in the International gunpla tournament took the world by storm, a new gunpla boom had occurred. Gunpla sales skyrocketed and battle systems were being set up everywhere. Within only two years, gundam had a larger fan base than any other anime in the world, and gunpla battle had more players than even the most popular online games. People from all over the world have been absorbed into the concept of gunpla battle. There are jobs and occupations related to gunpla battle as well - going so far that gunpla battle has even been acknowledged as an official subject for schools.

Local tournaments started opening up left and right, creating more chances for a gunpla battler to prove their strength on the battlefield. The number of people playing gunpla battle had tripled over the span of only two years, and with the overpopulation of players, PPSE incorporated a new system that will help control the number of people attending tournaments – the team system

Instead of going alone, five gunpla fans and friends can unite to form a team. The team will fight as one unit, instead of each person fighting by themselves. Four fighters, who are gunpla builders who pilot the mobile suit fighting in the battle, and one operator, who can send out a smaller support unit and is fully responsible for mobile suit maintenance and control. In tournaments, when team is called up to the stage to fight, the team must discuss among themselves which one of them should head out with the operator to fight. Once they have decided, the other three members have to sit back and watch, and become unable to contribute to the battle. There are some events that demand all five fighters in action at the same time, or even events that select the team's fighter completely randomly. Regardless, a formation of a team is obligatory if one wants to enter a gunpla battle tournament.

The fans responded positively, and over one million teams were formed in the span of only six months. Gunpla had grown incredibly fast, and the world was not prepared for what it had to offer.

To many gunpla fans, 18th of April was a significant day. It was the day that the number of gunpla sold exceeded 10 billion units. It symbolizes just how grand gunpla battle has become, and so the day of April 18th was called "Gunpla Day ". On this day, there would be a huge discount on gunpla, the giant gundam statue would be displayed at night in full bloom, and other things that would make a dedicated gunpla fan go crazy. April 18th was tomorrow, and many gunpla fans worldwide squealed in anticipation.

But to Taijin Sakamoto, April 18th was just another Friday.

Taijin Sakamoto was a 16 year old second year high school student, attending Sei High Art School in Shizuoka. Great things were expected of him. His father, Ryuji Sakamoto was a famous international detective as well a talented martial artist. His mother, Katsura Sakamoto, was an absolute beauty, even winning beauty pageants several times. As a child, Taijin was unique in the sense that he spent most of his childhood isolated from gundam shows and gunpla. Which is why living in a school owned house with other gundam obsessed friends was driving him crazy. Loud gunpla battles at midnight, constantly talking about gundam shows and building gunpla every day. Unlike his friends, whose childhoods were filled with nothing but gunpla, his childhood consisted of drawing and studying, in hopes of becoming an artist. He attended Sei High Art School, a school specializing in this area, and he was getting perfect grades. He was expected to graduate with exceptional grades.

Until Gunpla battle was added as an obligatory subject to take.

His grades spiked downwards. Taijin was simply unable to play gunpla battle. He didn't understand gundam and gunpla. The different types of gunpla, and which one was good for which situation. The confusing controls and the plavsky particles. Taijin, who was easily at the top of the class, was now at risk of repeating the current semester. His gunpla obsessed classmates on the other hand, were very comfortable with gunpla battle. They were even considering forming a team to attend the local tournaments.

The gunpla battle lesson weren't really lessons at all. The teachers were strict yet inexperienced, and there was no structure to classes. It was just that you were graded on your performance in gunpla battle, in the same way schools would grade you in PE. They would simply take your win rate, check it against the grade boundaries and graded it like that. Taijin , because of his natural talent with art, could build gunpla that was refined and polished. But they didn't last long – they were destroyed in their first battle.

Several times, Taijin's friends would beg him to join them in training. Maybe because of the academic pressure that gunpla battle has put on Taijin, he saw it in a bad light, they thought. Maybe if he saw its true nature, and how beautiful it can be, he will grow to like it and do better in class. Maybe if he loved gunpla battle he would play it every day and become an expert at it, saving his grades. But they were given the same answer every time they asked.

"Sorry guys. Not interested. I have work to do"

Home alone at night, Taijin lay on his bed and stared out the window. His room was messy, with sheets of A4 paper scattered across the room, and a mountain of scrunched up paper in his trash can. He let out a deep sigh.

Gunpla tore away everything from Taijin. His relationship with his friends, his exceptional grades,

Tomorrow was Gunpla day, which meant whether he liked it or not he would be surrounded by gunpla for the entire day.

"Gunpla battle…how ridiculous…Because of a battle of toys..."

* * *

Note from Author

Hello Reader!

You may remember me from the older story , Gundam Build Fighters a tale of two dragons. I don't know about you guys, but i didn't really like where that story was going, so i didn't want to offend you precious readers by giving you a half-hearted story. So here we are, on a clean slate, with a new story. Alot of planning and thought has went into this story, so i really hope that you enjoy it! :D

Anyways, Gundam Build Fighters Snow and Ash Chapter 1 - Snow in April will be out on the 20th of April! Please look forward to it! :D

Have a nice day!


	2. Chapter 1 - Snow in April

6:00 AM April 18

It was a sunny and cloudless day. Blue birds hung from tree branches singing, and there was a gentle rain of sakura petals coming from blooming sakura trees. There were posters of gundam scattered all around the city, and in the center of the city of Shizuoka stood the giant 1:1 scale Gundam statue. Surrounding the gundam statue was what seemed like stands being set up for some large carnival that would happen later in the day. Blimps were soaring in the sky, displaying commercials for the new gunpla battle features.

Early in the morning, there was shuffling and chaos in the household of was in bed, covering his ears with his pillows to deafen himself from the violent screaming coming downstairs from his friends that shook the wooden floor. He felt like his dark, black hair was going to fall off from his head.

A loud, high pitched female voice called out to him

"Taijin-kun! Wake up! If you aren't downstairs in the next 10 minutes I'll drop a colony on you!"

Still covering his ears, Taijin shouted

"Shut up! Why are you guys so loud?!"

He continued lying down on his bed, and turned around so he faced the window. Through the blinds, he could caught a glimpse of the blimps floating in the sky with gunpla commercials, and immediately he sighed. He cursed himself quietly.

"For god's sake, I honestly can't escape this…Gunpla…Ridiculous"

His phone, placed on the side desk close to his right, suddenly started vibrating. Taijin reached out for and was greeted with an email notification. Upon reading it, he sighed again, but instead of a sigh of disappointment, it was a sigh of relief. He read it over again to himself quietly, to make sure he wasn't still dreaming

" Dear Taijin Sakamoto, This is your principal writing to you to inform that from today, you shall have a new resident in your school dorm house of C1. Her name is Kosetsu Yukimura, a talented art student just like you. You shall be in charge of picking her up and showing her around for the first few weeks. Today you have permission to leave school early from Period 3 to head to the train station to pick her up at about approximately 10:30 AM . When you arrive at the train station, look for a blonde haired girl around your age carrying a large red suitcase. From then onwards, you are to show her to the dorm house of C1, and make sure she is comfortable with everything by tomorrow. Best of luck."

Taijin's face was lit with a warm smile, something that was not present on his face for a long time. He thought to himself, He had an excuse to get away from school, to get away from gunpla battle class. The perfect timing as well – Period 3 is gunpla battle class. So all he needed to do was come in briefly for around two hours for physics, and he was free for the day.

A new female student as well, what could be better? In the household there are currently two guys and one girl, excluding Taijin – and girly isn't exactly the best word to describe Takahashi Mina-chan. Even though her figure is indeed feminine, her positive and optimistic mentality make her seem like a 12 year old boy, even though she's the oldest out of all of the residents being 17 years old. She would test out wresting moves on people just because, and it doesn't help that she has incredible physical strength. One time she even sent a student to the nurse with a drop kick, and justified it with "self-defense". Despite all of this though, Mina was a kind and honest girl – and easily one of the most reliable people Taijin has ever met in his life.

As Taijin was staring at the window daydreaming, a red haired female student burst into his messy room, carrying a large rubber hammer. She charged right at Taijin, and gave him a solid whack on the head, snapping him out of his trance.

"I did warn ya man, if you weren't out in five minutes I'd drop a colony on you!"

Taijin, limping out from his bed, squealed

"Y-You said ten minutes…"

With a gleeful smile, she leaned over Taijin, who was lying on the floor in pain.

"Little details don't matter Tai-Tai! What is important is that now you're awake!"

While Taijin was struggling to get up , a faint sizzling sound could be heard coming from the ground floor, which was soon accompanied by a booming, low pitched yell from a panicking male student.

"Mina! The Zaku-pancakes! They're burning! HURRY!"

"NO! SAVE THE ZAKUS!" She screamed as she instantly raced out of Taijin's room, completely ignoring the fact that he was lying on the ground in agony.

Within a matter of seconds, the door was slammed shut, and Taijin was left alone in his room once again.

* * *

In his neat white shirt and blue pants uniform, Taijin walked down the stairs towards the kitchen. He was greeted by all of his other housemates already on the kitchen table, with oddly shaped pancakes in front of each of them. There was an empty chair, in between Mina and another male student. He was tall and muscular, and he had light brown hair. His name was Grind Coleslaw, a close friend to Taijin as well as the gunpla fighter with the best win: loss ratio in the entire year.

Also on the table was another male student, with long grey hair that went down to the top rim of his glasses. His school uniform was collared all the way up to the top, and he was very careful about his sitting and eating posture. He was Mitsuo Kimura, and he was the vice president of Sei High's student council.

Upon sitting down, Taijin was greeted with a strange looking pancake. Mitsuo passed him the apple syrup, and he calmly reassured

"Don't worry Taijin. It's a BuCue from Gundam seed. Unlike in the show, it's not going to bite."

Taijin reluctantly squeezed apple syrup all over the pancake, and began to slowly cut it up and eat it. After his first piece, he asked the group

"Why can't we just have a normal breakfast… these pancakes feel weird and overcooked"

Grind laughed out loud as he patted him on the back

"Blame Mina. When she went up to drop a colony on you she forgot that she was making these pancakes. That's why they are so overcooked."

Mina bolted up from her seat, her face completely red with embarrassment.

"So next time you make them!"

Mina still had food in her mouth as she spoke, so what she said was barely understandable. Somehow, Grind heard every word, and swallowed his piece before responding

"Sure! I've got no problem with making pancakes." He then turned to Taijin, and continued talking "Today is gunpla day. That's why we are having these pancakes instead of the normal breakfast."

Taijin let out another sigh, as he continued to eat the pancake. Finished before the others, Mitsuo stood up from his seat, carrying his empty plate. He walked towards the dishwasher, while reminding everyone on the table

"Hurry up guys. Even though it's gunpla day, I don't think the school will let us off for being late."

* * *

The walk to school felt long and endless for Taijin despite only being 10 minutes. As they strolled down the sidewalk, there were gunpla posters at every corner, and the blimps that were floating in the sky made it impossible for anybody to escape gunpla on that day. Mitsuo, Mina and Grind were cheerfully chatting about how ridiculous the battle between the Freedom and the Impulse was, and how impractical the Strike freedom gundam was. Taijin was there, reading the email to himself over and over. About halfway through the walk, he told the group that there would be a new resident in the house, and they responded by discussing about how cool it would have been if she played gunpla battle.

No matter what the topic, Taijin could not escape from gunpla.

Taijin's only lesson of the day, physics, was gunpla related as well. Because it was gunpla day, the physics teacher discussed the physics behind nuclear powered gundam and how it was impossible for the freedom and the impulse to survive the nuclear explosion caused by the Freedom's nuclear reactor.

The entire school had gunpla posters all over the corridors and lockers as well, advertising a private tournament exclusive to the school. Teachers, instead of wearing their usual shirt and tie, were permitted to wear gundam shirts. One teacher even found the time to make a gundam helmet, and wore it to school.

Taijin left school after two hours of gundam physics, and thanked god for the brilliant timing of his leave. If he had stayed in gunpla battle class on gunpla day, who knows what would have happened.

He walked down the sidewalk with his hands in his pockets, looking down at the ground. Despite leaving school grounds, he still wore his uniform tidily. As he walked down the streets, he glanced at his watch, and noticed that it was only 9:00 AM.

"Geez. I have so much time before I have to go…"

Taijin continued walking towards the train station, despite how early he was. Even though he was walking at a sluggish pace, he arrived with 45 minutes to spare.

The train station was rather empty, and gunpla posters were also all over the train station. It was clean and sanitary, with reliable security. There was only one rail for the train to arrive, and on both sides of the rail was a sidewalk for passengers to come and go. Taijin sat on a bench by the sidewalk, waiting.

At 9:45 one train arrived, covered in gundam paintings and stickers. Leaving the train was a family of three - the father, the mother, and one son. The son was wearing a gundam shirt, and after leaving the train the first question he asked was

"Papa! Where is the battle room?"

Taijin was just sitting there, watching as the family was being escorted into a small room with large glass windows, not so far from where he was sitting. He glanced at the curved metal roof of the train station, and thought to himself

"I have some spare time anyways…45 minutes…might as well check it out. Better than nothing"

Standing up from the bench, he strolled towards the room. As he approached it, he heard the robotic voice that was all too familiar to him.

"Please set your GP base"

He arrived at the window, and peeked inside. There was a large octagonal machine right in the middle of the dark room. The boy, who was on one side of the octagon, placed his GP base onto the slot as his parents stood on the sidelines. The robotic voice spoke once more

"Please select game mode"

Taijin's face was lit up with surprise. The command was completely new and unfamiliar to him, as he was used to the machine setting the field right after the base was inserted, not asking for what kind of game mode the player wanted. He then remembered the blimps in the sky today advertising a new update. He whispered to himself

"So that's what this is all about…Geez…It just keeps getting bigger and bigger"

He continued watching, as the child squawked voice commands at the machine to get the game mode that he wanted. The machine started emitting light blue particles, as they rose up from the sides of the machine to create transparent azure walls. Within those walls, more particles filled the machine, dancing around and changing colors, until it formed an accurate replica of a desert.

"Field 3 : Desert"

Taijin let out a small chuckle as the robot announced the field. It was one of his favorite fields despite his detestation for gunpla battle. There wasn't anything striking about the field for him, it was just like any other field. It was just that the machine would mispronounce the name, and it would end up sounding more like dessert. The robot's accent was one of the things that Taijin looked forward to when playing gunpla battle in classes.

"Please set your gunpla "

The boy reached for a small holder that was mounted on his belt. He opened it, and he pulled out a gunpla. It was a black gundam, with a large shield on its left hand, and a yellow claw mounted on its right hand. Taijin leaned in against the window, to get a closer look at the gunpla. He instinctively began narrating quietly to himself the features of the gunpla

"Nub marks are still present. Foil stickers applied. No panel lining. No paint applications. Scratch marks on its left shoulder and right elbow. Shield has a total of three cracks on it. This is a straight build, and it's probably very old as well…"

Taijin, despite disliking gunpla, had a very sharp eye when it came to the construction of gunpla. He was a talented artist, and he could build beautiful gunpla. It's just a matter that he couldn't control it even if his life depended on it – which ended up in his gunpla getting destroyed on the first run no matter how great it was.

The boy placed the black gundam on a panel directly above is glowing GP base, and the eyes of the gunpla lit up as he did. More particles began flowing out from the machine, surrounding the boy, creating another smaller octagonal wall around him. Two yellow floating orbs appeared in front of him, and he placed his hands on it.

"Battle start"

The boy, with a smile, announced

"Blitz gundam, let's go!"

The gundam was pushed down the launching catapult by two rails attached on the gunpla's foot, and it was flung into the desert arena. On the opposite side of the arena, a green mobile suit was slowly hovering towards the blitz, despite having no human pilot as an opponent. Once more, Taijin leaned in to inspect the gunpla closely

"An unmanned unit by the computer… A regular Zaku II. Superior in model quality. Nub marks have been neatly cleaned up and sanded down, and the gunpla has been panel lined neatly as well"

The Blitz gundam pointed its shield towards the Zaku II, and a single spear shot out from under the shield. The Zaku made a swift maneuver to the right, and dodged the flying projectile. Taijin was observing closely from the window, as the boy moved the yellow orbs back and forth.

Drawing its heat hawk, the Zaku II rushed in close to the Blitz. With a quick swipe, the corner of the black Gundam's pointed shoulder armor was cleanly cut off. A kick in the stomach from the blitz sent the Zaku II flying back from right where it came, cracking the cockpit slightly.

Suddenly, an uncontrollable wave of pain rushed through Taijin's head, as he forcibly shut his eyes and turned away from the window. He started to breathe heavily, and he slowly kneeled down on the floor. He cursed himself quietly

"Crap…this always happens when I watch or play a gunpla battle…those plavsky particles…"

After a minute of sitting down against the wall breathing heavily, Taijin stood up again and walked away from the battle room, completely ignoring the intense, loud battle sounds coming from the machine. He sighed, as he sat down on the bench he did before, and continued to wait for the train.

* * *

At 10:30, a red train, covered with Sinanju decals, arrived at the train station. Taijin stood up from his bench, and approached the sidewalk. Coming from the train was only one person, a girl around his age with a red suitcase. This had to be the new resident.

But it wasn't like anything that he had expected

The girl was an absolute beauty. Her hair was a silky cream color, and her eyes were a pure sapphire blue. She wore a white jacket and a short white skirt, as well as blue trainers and a blue shirt. She gave Taijin an innocent gaze, as she strolled towards him elegantly and asked

"Are you the one?"

Taijin, still stunned by her beauty, muttered

"Y-yes…f-f-follow me…"

He rapidly turned away from her, walking towards the train station exit. His face was blushing intensely, as the girl followed along silently.

* * *

The majority of their walk to the house of C1 was relatively eventless and quiet. She would gaze off into the distance as Taijin escorted her down the sidewalk. About halfway through their walk, they approached a crossing, and they had to wait through a red light. She was still staring into sky, as three older guys, who noticed her from a distance, began walking towards them.

They were wearing black jackets, and were smoking. One of them was carrying a baseball bat, while another of them was flipping a coin as they walked along. They approached them with a nasty grin. They were talking amongst themselves

"Damn, that girl is cute…"

"Let's go and have some fun with her"

"Who knows, we might even be able to take her home tonight…"

Taijin, who caught them out of the corner of his eye, instantly turned around. He gave the gang a hostile stare. They continued walking closer to her, and Taijin struck a defensive martial arts stance. He declared to them

"I'm in charge of making sure that this girl arrives at her destination safely. I'll make sure that that happens, so if I were you I wouldn't do anything funny."

The men laughed, as they continued walking towards her.

"Get out of the way kid."

"Yeah, we've been a little thirsty lately. We need that girl more than you do. A guy's needs have to be fulfilled"

Smiling confidently, Taijin taunted them

"Really? You really dare call yourself a guy doing something like this? Go and buy some makeup."

The gang stopped dead in their tracks. Their faces burned red, and they started to crack their knuckles. Taijin leaned over to the girl, and whispered

"Cross the street, and keep walking. In about a minute, you should come across a fork, and take the right turn. C1 is down that road. I'll meet you there soon. Hurry, go."

Seemingly completely oblivious to the situation, the girl continued staring blankly at the sky, still dragging her luggage along with her. Taijin was panicking, and he was thinking that of all the times for someone to be daydreaming, it had to be now when they could potentially be a victim of kidnapping.

One of the three men charged at Taijin, with his fists clenched. He swiped right at his head, but a sudden duck made the punch completely miss. Taijin kicked the man right in the groin, knocking him onto the ground, squealing helplessly. Repairing his stance, Taijin faced the two remaining men confidently

"My father's a detective and master martial artist. Still want to keep going?"

The two men violently charged at Taijin at once, with one of them wielding a metal baseball bat. They let out a wild battle cry, as Taijin immediately shifted to a defensive stance, bracing himself for a painful attack.

As swift as the wind, the girl came from behind him, and swinging her luggage as if it were a weapon, she knocked out both men with a single swing. Taijin stood in astonishment, as the two men were sent flying, landing on the ground with a loud thud.

As if nothing out of the ordinary just happened, she knelt down to dust off some dirt that was on the base of her luggage. She glanced at Taijin, and said in a calm, monotone voice

"Kosetsu Yukimura. Nice to meet you"

Blushing again, Taijin responded

"T-Taijin Sakamoto. Nice to meet you as well"

There was a gentle rain of Sakura petals as the two of them continued walking to the house of C1

* * *

**Author's note**

Thank you for reading my first chapter! I hope that you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it!

If you guys are wondering why the Chapter title is "Snow in April" , It's because Kosetsu means snowfall in Japanese. My Japanese isn't great, so correct me if I'm wrong ^.^

A chapter will be released every Sunday, so Gundam Build Fighters Ash and Snow Chapter 2: Gundam Fiesta will be released on the 27th of April. Please look forward to it!

Have a nice day!


	3. Chapter 2 - Gundam Fiesta

Kosetsu and Taijin, after a long walk, was standing in front of the school dorm-house of C1. It was located conveniently near the school, grocery store, and most importantly – the hobby shop. Opening the front gate, Taijin let her in.

They opened the front door, and stepped into the building. The entire house was lit up by natural sunlight shining through the windows, which gave the wooden floors a glamorous, natural shine. The walls, which were painted white, which were slowly turning grey as time went on. Despite the age of the house, it was holding up very well.

Holding her luggage for her, Taijin brought her up the stairs, and led her to a room in on the first floor. Placing the luggage in front of the door, he looked at Kosetsu with a smile

"This is going to be your room."

Kosetsu stared at Taijin with an innocent, clueless gaze. Her blue eyes met his brown eyes, and after a few seconds of staring, Taijin suddenly blushed and awkwardly turned around. Stuttering a bit, he responded

"A-Anyway. You better go and unpack. Lunch will be ready in a bit."

He walked down the stairs as Kosetsu giggled at his adorable clumsiness.

* * *

As Taijin's frying pan was sizzling with beef fillet on it, the doorbell of the house rang. Sighing, he abandoned the frying pan, as he went to check the front door. With his cooking apron still on, he left the kitchen and began walking down the corridor leading to the front door. He called out

"I'm co-"

Before he could finish his sentence, Mina rushed through the front door and greeted Taijin with a lighting fast flying kick. It landed right on Taijin's chest, knocking him down. Mina gracefully landed while Taijin was recovering from her attack

Grunting, Taijin dusted his apron, while Grind and Mitsuo trotted through the front door, carrying all of their school bag. Grabbing Mina on the shoulder, Taijin yelled

"Geez, will you stop attacking me! It hurts you kno-"

A punch from Mina to Taijin's chest interrupted his speech, and this time the punch sent him flying across the corridor. With an elegant spin, Taijin managed to land to perform a handspring, and landed on two feet. Mina let out a wild battle cry

"Roar, Build Knuckle!"

Mitsuo and Grind, still at the front gates, laughed enthusiastically. Fixing his crooked apron, Taijin shouted

"What is your problem Mina!? And why are you guys back so early anyways?!

Mitsuo stepped forward, and adjusting his glasses, explained their early arrival.

"Well you see, after gunpla battle class we were called out by the principal and we were instructed to head home before lunch. We were told to greet the new resident, and that we would have the day off to make her feel comfortable with everything here."

Walking back to the kitchen, Taijin responded

"Well she's upstairs unpacking. Lunch will be ready in a sec."

Mina sprinted ahead and intercepted Taijin's walk. She leaned in close to him, their noses almost touching

"So, is she cute?"

Taijin gently shoved Mina back and rapidly turned around before anybody could see his blushing face.

"W-What are you guys saying?!"

Grind and Mitsuo chuckled as they paced towards the stairs. Grind stopped halfway past the corridor, as he gazed towards the kitchen

"Hey, Taijin. Your filet is…"

There was a sizzling sound coming from the kitchen, as Taijin remembered the beef that he was cooking for lunch.

"DAMMIT YOU GUYS"

He, almost tripped as he sprinted to the kitchen. He grabbed the frying pan, which had steaming beef filet on it.

"D-Don't worry! Just get changed, lunch will be ready in a sec!"

* * *

"Taijin, this beef filet is overcooked."

Kosetsu whined in a monotone voice as she was eating the beef fillet. Despite her clear disapproval of the food, her face was emotionless as she continued eating the beef. Everyone's eyes were focused on her. Mina added

"That's right. Taijin's a terrible chef. He should never be allowed in the kitchen"

His face red in embarrassment, he retorted

"That's because you guys came home early without telling anyone…so I had to get the door…"

Mina chucked, as Taijin stared at Kosetsu mindlessly poking her food. Grind cleared his throat.

"Don't worry about it Kosetsu. It's a bit overcooked because we interrupted his cooking. It's usually very good"

Kosetsu showed no response, her facial expression was exactly the same and she didn't say a word. Mina leaned over to Taijin and whispered

"Hey, what do you think?"

"Well she's rather clueless at times, and she spaces out quite often. But in general she's a nice person I guess…"

Hearing their quiet whispers, Grind leaned over to Taijin as well and chipped in

"A nice person I guess? That's all you can say despite spending the most time with her out of all of us?"

Kosetsu glared at the chatting threesome, and noticing her gaze, they instantly reverted to their own seats, eating. They were sweating intensely, and Mina was trembling as Kosetsu's sapphire eyes stared into her soul.

Mitsuo, sensing the drastic change in atmosphere, reached in his pocket and pulled out a flyer. It had several gundams displayed on it, as well as the massive 1:1 scale gundam statue that would be on display on that night.

"Tonight there's going to be a huge festival for gundam fans. It's going to be held in the city center and the gundam statue is going to be there. In honor of our new resident here, I think it would be a good idea if we all go together"

Mina's face was lit up with an energetic smile, and Grind nodded his head in approval. Kosetsu continued eating as if nothing was going on. Taijin, however, stood up from his chair, instantly objecting

"Hey hey! We don't even know if Kosetsu is even a Gunpla fighter, let alone a gundam fan! We should at least ask for her approval! Right, Kosetsu?"

With exaggerated hand gestures, he glared at Kosetsu, silently begging for her not to approve the idea of going to the festival. Although he didn't dare to say it, he has already had enough of gunpla for one day.

Her gaze was still fixated on the plate that was in front of her. A few seconds passed before she replied

"I want to go to the gunpla fiesta"

Mitsuo grinned as he announced

"Then it's decided. We're leaving today at 6 o'clock sharp. Make sure you all tune-up your gunpla before we leave"

* * *

Two hours after lunch, Taijin lay on his bed staring at his room's ceiling. On his desk was a half-completed gunpla. It was lazily put together and its lower body wasn't even assembled yet. But Taijin didn't care. He knew all too well that no matter how beautiful or brilliant his gunpla is, it wouldn't last beyond its first battle. So what's the point of even making a perfect gunpla if it's just going to blow up in its first launch?

Taijin closed his eyes, and sighed. He thought about his grades. His falling grades – and how if he failed gunpla class he may be at risk of repeating the year. He clenched his fist as he thought about how much better the world would be for him if gunpla never existed.

"Idiot"

Taijin suddenly jumped up as he heard a familiar voice whisper to him. He turned, and he saw Kosetsu, leaning over his bed.

"H-HOW DID YOU GET IN HERE?!"

Ignoring his question Kosetsu strolled around his room. Taijin sat on his bed as he watched Kosetsu dance around, observing every inch of his room. She noticed the half built gunpla lying on his desk. Reaching out, she took the gunpla and inspected it carefully. It was a gundam with a red body, and with exceptionally large fists, shoulders and knees. Despite it not being finished yet, it was already collecting dust and part of its shoulder was scratched. Within just a few seconds, she turned to Taijin.

"Do you know how to build a gunpla?"

"Of course I do!"

"I don't think so. A beginner could build a better Age-1 Titus than this."

"So? I don't really care."

Kosetsu whipped her hand across Taijin's face, leaving a bright red hand-mark where her palm hit his cheek. Taijin avoided eye contact with her after the slap, and he embarrassingly took the gunpla from her hands.

"I don't have a reason to build one to the best of my efforts"

"Why is that? Is it because you think you're too old for it or something?"

"No! It's because there's no point."

Taijin lay the gunpla on his desk, and walked past Kosetsu. He grabbed a cardboard box that was under his desk and handed it to her. She opened it, and inside was a graveyard of gunpla. There were dozens of gunpla which were carefully panel-lined and painted- yet they all lay broken in pieces inside the box. Gunpla of all sizes and colors, with scratch marks and missing pieces. Kosetsu stared at the box with her usual, emotionless expression.

"That's what happens to all of the gunpla I put effort into. They may be well-made, but a crap pilot will always lead the gunpla to defeat."

Kosetsu smiled at the box of gunpla parts.

"You see a graveyard of destroyed gunpla in this box?"

"I see all of my wasted time and effort, all of my dying grades, and my hatred for gunpla in that box"

"Then you must be blind. I see potential. In the box, and in you"

Taijin laughed half-heartedly at Kosetsu's compliment. She slowly walked out of the room, with the box in her hands. She turned back to give Taijin another gentle gaze with her sapphire eyes.

"I'm going to use the parts here to create a wonderful gunpla. In the same way I'm going to use the potential in you to create a wonderful fighter."

The door closed, as Taijin stared in amazement. He glanced at his incomplete gundam, and sighed.

"Sorry Kosetsu. I think I'm beyond saving at this point."

* * *

The clock struck 5:50, as Taijin walked down the stairs. He wore his only gundam shirt- which was a blue shirt with an illustration of the Abyss gundam that he received as a present from Mina for his last birthday. Downstairs, Kosetsu was waiting by the front door. She wore a short blue skirt, and her white shirt had an image of the strike freedom printed in gold. She smiled innocently at him, as he approached her with a sigh.

"You're rather early, Kosetsu"

He noticed the small black holder that was attached to her belt. He knew what it was upon seeing it – It was a holder that was meant to carry around gunpla when going to battle. Before its invention people just stuffed it in their pockets – but foolishly risked scratching the gunpla as they moved around. After a second, Taijin opened his mouth in shock as he realized what it was for

"Is that what I think it is? Did you really manage to turn the parts in the black box into a functional gunpla?! In two hours?!"

Kosetsu patted the black holder as she gave Taijin another smile.

"I managed to get one working at least. It's not 100% complete yet though."

As Taijin continued staring at the black holder, Mitsuo, Grind and Mina all walked down the stairs together. Mina, noticing Taijin's shirt, rushed up to him and gave him a large hug that almost knocked him over

"Oh my gosh, you're wearing the shirt that I got you!"

"Well duh, I'm going to a gunpla festival. I'll look like a weirdo if I'm the only one not in gundam related clothes"

Mina, with her arms still wrapped around Taijin, glanced at the black holder on Kosetsu's waist. She instantly let go of Taijin, and dashed up to Kosetsu

"Oh , so you DO play gunpla battle"

Despite Mina's nose nearly touching the holder, Kosetsu replied in a calm, monotone voice

"I never said I didn't"

"Can I see your GP base? Please? Please?"

Taijin smiled at her eagerness to see Kosetsu's GP base. He understood why, the GP base tracks every single statistic of a gunpla fighter, while doubling as an identification for the fighter. Everything from most used gunpla, to accuracy, to win: loss ratio. The GP base also identifies the fighter, so it's basically impossible to play gunpla battle without the GP base.

Kosetsu gently pushed mina back a bit, as Mitsuo started walking to the front gate. He turned around to the group, and adjusted his glasses.

"We can save that stuff for later. I'm sure everyone brought their GP base, but regarding the gunpla…"

Grind, who was wearing a red jacket with gold highlights, shook his head

"I think we should rent the gunpla today. The gunpla fiesta usually gets pre-released models, and it's pretty likely that they will be renting those for people who want to play gunpla battle. Besides, our gunpla has been damaged today anyways in class"

Mitsuo giggled, as he exclaimed

"You saw right through me as usual Grind…I was thinking we should rent a well"

Kosetsu stepped forward, with her hand on the holder mounted on her waist

"I'll be fine using what I've got here. I'm not really that interested in the newer models anyway"

Taijin giggled at her stubbornness, as she began walking out of the front door. Her light, blonde hair waved elegantly as the others followed her out of the building.

* * *

The city center was lit up with bright lights, as the quiet, spacious park that was at the center of the city was converted into a massive, lively festival. There were hundreds of dozens of tents that were set up in the park, selling all sorts of crazy gundam merchandise. Placed perfectly in the center of the festival was the giant 1:1 scale gundam statue that towered above the entire city. Its eyes glowed bright yellow as it overlooked overjoyed gundam fans migrating from tent to tent.

The residents of C1 arrived in the front gate, and despite the park being one of the biggest in the entire country, it was rather crowded with gundam fanatics of all ages. Mina pointed upwards at the statue and screamed in joy

"WAH! IT'S THE GUNDAM STATUE!"

Taijin smiled as he watched the giant gundam statue slowly rotate its head left and right. Although he disliked gunpla in general, there were some things that he couldn't help but feel as if they were extraordinary. The giant statue was one of those things.

Mina grabbed his arm, and the group began migrating from tent to tent.

"Oh my god, I never knew that these gundam popsicles ever existed! Taijin look!"

"Hey, Mitsuo, what do you think of these Sinanju themed sunglasses? Cool, eh?"

"Taijin. Stuffed Haros."

They were running around like children in a toy shop in the festival, and as they left each tent one of them would be carrying at least one more shopping bag.

About an hour passed ever since they entered, and between all of them they had to be carrying at least 30 shopping bags. Ranging from gundam shoes to gundam themed soda, they were carrying exclusive gundam merchandise that was only available in the Gundam Fiesta.

Taijin leaned in close to mina, who was carrying five shopping bags.

"Hey...where the heck did you get all of this money?"

"I've been saving up for the Gundam Fiesta for all of last year. That's why I can afford so much awesome stuff! I'm sure Grind and Mitsuo is the same! But Kosetsu…"

They both glanced at Kosetsu, who was carrying the most bags out of the entire group. She was carrying eight bags, each stuffed with gunpla merchandise. Taijin, on the other hand, was carrying 3 bags, but they didn't belong to him. They belonged to Kosetsu.

"I don't know. Maybe she's some sort of princess or something."

"How can a princess be so absent minded all the time?"

"Maybe it's because she's a princess that she's absent minded"

Hearing the muttering behind her, Kosetsu glanced behind her and gave Taijin and Mina a cold stare that sent shivers up their spine. Grind interrupted the confrontation by calling out to them from a large tent.

"Hey! Come over here!"

The group proceeded to Grind, who was already waiting for them in front of a massive tent. It was several times larger than the smaller stands, almost like a circus tent. Inside the tent were a large assortment of gunpla battle machines, as well as a stage at the end of the tent. There was also a display case of newer models close to the entrance, which was open to the public to rent the newest gunpla models. The sounds of gunpla battle filled the tent as they walked up to the rental counter with glee. Grind leaned in close to inspect the gunpla that were being displayed.

"Darn…the newest gunpla have all been rented out already…"

The group sighed in disappointment as they were faced with older models for rent on the shelves. Mitsuo leaned in as well, the lens on his glasses reflecting the gunpla on display

"It's alright. These gunpla here are well built anyway." He looked towards the counter, where there was a lady in a gundam ship crew uniform. "I'll take this Xekueins please."

The lady walked up to the display case, and took out a blue mobile suit. Taijin, despite his limited knowledge of the gundam universe, tried to identify it.

"A gundam…no. It's lacking the eyes and the V-fin. It's got a mono-eye and two large gray canisters mounted on its shoulders. That gun as well…"

Mitsuo gently took the mobile suit as it was handed to him by the lady.

" The Xeku Eins. It's not a surprise that you don't really know it, it first appeared in gundam sentinel."

Grind pointed to another mobile suit being displayed in the case

"I'll take that Slash Zaku warrior please"

The lady reached into the display case once again, and pulled out a light blue mobile suit. As she handed it to Grind, Taijin began identifying the mobile suit as he did with Mitsuo's Xeku Eins.

"That's obviously a zaku, even a non gundam fan will know that. But this isn't a normal zaku. Those shoulder mounted spiked shields, as well as that giant beam halberd. There are even two gatling guns on the zaku's back."

Mina weaved her way past everybody, and immediately pointed to another mobile suit in the display case

"Then I'll take that Gouf Ignited please! I don't want to break the mono-eye trend!"

The lady reached in and grabbed a bright yellow mobile suit, with a design strikingly similar to the slash zaku warrior.

"A Zaku…no, it' a Gouf. That's no Zaku, boy."

Mina gasped as Taijin uttered those words

"Did you just?!"

"N-NO! I DIDN'T JUST MAKE A GUNDAM REFERENCE. IT WAS PURELY COINCIDENTAL."

Kosetu gently tugged Taijin's shirt, getting his attention

"Get an operator unit"

Her calm voice almost faded into the background amongst the chaos, but Taijin manage to comprehend what she said.

"Well, I guess I'll take the skygrasper with the aile pack please."

The lady ducked, and carefully took out a jet-like model with large red wings attached on its back that was lying on the bottom shelf of the display case. Taijin carefully held it in his hands.

"If someone here had a strike unit, it would be much better. But I guess it can't be helped"

The lady stood up again, and made a calm gesture to Kosetsu

"And which mobile suit would you like to use, madam?"

Kosetsu shook her head, as she tapped the black holder on her belt.

" It's fine. I brought my own"

With a smile, the lady handed the group another leaflet. Grind took it, and began reading it aloud for the rest of the group to hear

"Special event, Team defense. Experience the new update of gunpla battle firsthand with the brand new defense mode! Defend the ship for 15 minutes from swarms of enemies and win a huge prize of an exclusive gunpla. Regular rules apply. Maximum 4 fighters and one operator."

The lady took out a gunpla box that was under the counter. It as a black box, with words engraved in gold on the box "Exclusive defense prize: Gold plated High grade full armor unicorn gundam"

"This is the prize we are offering for all teams that make it past the fifteen minute mark. It is a golden full armor unicorn gundam, value is estimated to be approximately 200 US dollars. Would you like to enter?"

Mina nodded energetically, and looked at Grind. He nodded as well, and Mitsuo gave a thumbs up of approval. Kosetsu grabbed Taijin's shoulder as she nodded.

"It' okay Taijin. I'll teach you"

With a sigh, Taijin looked at the skygrasper in his hands

"It can't be helped."

The lady gestured them, and led them into a fenced area within the tent with a single, large battle system. As they entered, a robotic voice came from the machine

"Please set your GP base"

Everyone reached into their pockets, and pulled out a rectangular, phone like device, and placed it on a slot on the machine. As they placed the bases, the formerly black and lifeless screen lit up in a gentle blue light.

Taijin redirected his eyes away from his GP base that was glowing in front of him. It was boasting his laughable win: loss ratio, and he was embarrassed to even look at it.

"Field 1D, Space Defense"

The plavsky particles began rising from the base of the machine, creating a wall of particles around the machine and the five people around. The particles within the machine dyed themselves a range of luminescent colors to replicate the void of space.

"Please set your gunpla"

Taijin placed his Skygrasper on the slot, and then instantly looked at Kosetsu.

"Let's see what you made from that black box."

Kosetsu noticed his anxious gaze, and responded with a confident smile. She reached into the holder and pulled out her gunpla. Taijin's jaw dropped dead as he saw the sheer brilliance of the gunpla that Kosetsu created.

"A modified Exia with limbs from the Destiny gundam. The left arm has a foldable GN sword, and the right arm has the hands of the destiny which probably means it can use the energy shield. But…it's flawless. The paint job is polished, all the rough edges are sanded. This isn't the work of someone with two hours…it takes weeks to make a gunpla like this."

"Like it, Taijin?"

Kosetsu taunted Taijin confidently, leaving him unable to respond. He knew he couldn't make a rebuttal. He didn't like it. He loved it. It was perfect in nearly every way.

"Don't get too excited though. I'm not finished with it yet. I'm just taking it out for a test run."

As she placed it on the launching platform, the Gundam's eye lit up in a brightly glowing gold.

"Battle start."

The fighters placed their hands on the orbs that were in front of them, while a light blue control panel lit up in front of Taijin. After examining the data in front of him for a short while, Taijin announced to the group

"All systems green. Ready to launch"

"Mitsuo Kimura. Xeku Eins. Launching!"

"Grind Coleslaw. Slash Zaku Warrior. I'm heading out."

"Mina Takahashi. Gouf Ignited. Off I go!"

While Mina, Grind and Mitsuo all energetically screamed their launching, Kosetsu, on the other hand, quietly muttered it to herself.

"Proto-sapphire Exia. Kosetsu Yukimura. Launching."

As the four gundams launched into the arena of space, a large ship began to materialize in the middle of the battlefield. It had colors of white, blue and red, and a distinctive shape that any gundam fan would recognize. The Xeku Eins hovered above the ship as Mitsuo easily identified the ship

"Defending white base, huh? It's an honor."

After a short, eventless few seconds, a few red dots started appearing from Taijin's control panel.

" Guys , Northeast there's 20 Zaku's approa-"

His speech was interrupted by a powerful wave of pain, similar to what happened earlier in the day. He started breathing heavily, and continued his speech

"20 Zakus approaching from Northeast"

Like a shooting star, Kosetsu's exia rushed into the group of Zakus. Blazing through each unit, she left a trail of destruction as she dispatched each Zaku with a swing of her GN sword.

Grind's Slash Zaku stood idly in amazement, as explosions lit up the battlefield like fireworks.

"Incredible…It seems like I've finally got myself a worthy competitor"

Kosetsu, despite taking down an entire platoon of Zakus single handedly, stared emotionlessly through the plavsky walls, straight at Taijin. At this point, Taijin was sweating intensely and breathing heavily – all in order to keep himself in the battle as the team's operator

"Twel-Twelve Doms approaching South West! Three more Zakus coming from the East!"

Grind rushed towards the group of bulky, purple doms, and swung his halberd. Mitsuo aimed his beam rifle at the squadron of approaching Zakus, and quickly took them out.

"Taijin, I need refuel on my beam rifle!"

Responding to Mitsuo's call for help, Taijin placed his hands on the yellow glowing orb controllers.

"I'm co-"

Another excrutiating wave of pain rushed through Taijin's body, completely overwhelming him. His vision began to feel dizzy, as he placed one hand on his forehead.

"No…I have to say in the battle, for the sake of my-"

His eyes shut closed, as he felt another wave of pain conquer his body.

"I...I…I have to…"

Taijin fell forward, phasing through the blue plavsky walls, collapsing on the floor.

* * *

**Author's Note**

Thank you for reading chapter 2!

I would also like to thank you guys for your reviews and your feedback from the content in chapter 1 . Thanks alot, I really appreciate it :D

Gundam Build Fighters Ash and Snow Chapter 3 : Team Carbon will be released on the 4th of May. Please look forward to it!

Have a nice day!


	4. Announcement

Hello!

This is Nekronous here. I'm sorry that chapter 3 isn't out yet, but I have a reason for that

It's exam season and as a result I have exams to attend for the next 6 weeks. Because of that, the fanfiction will be put on hold for a short while.

I'm really sorry, but to make it up, chapters 3, 4 and 5 will all be released on the same day. Not sure when this day is, more information on it will be coming soon.

Also, I'm opening an OC submission contest for this fan fiction. What you have to do is simple- post a review or private message me an OC that you would like to appear in the story. Please include the Name, Gender , Age , Appearance, Personality and Gunpla. The OC can be anything, ranging from a badass villan to a typical loli. Let your imagination roam free~

I'll be reading all the submissions, and the deadline for submission is Sunday June 11th OC character contest results will be announced at the end of Chapter 3, and the OC will be making their first appearance in chapter 5.

So sorry for the delay in chapter 3, and I look forward to seeing all of your submissions.

Have a nice day!


	5. Chapter 3 - Team Carbon

A shooting star flew across the night sky, leaving a trail of shining gold. Lying on the side of a river bank, Taijin observed the stars as they flickered like diamonds. As a gentle gust of wind rushed past his hair, he grunted abruptly, and leaned up from his seat.

"Huh…what's going on… How did I get here?"

He noticed that the river banks stretched on for what seems like forever, and that there was no bank visible on the other side of the river – as if he were on the shore of a beach. The ocean was a beautiful light blue, and its waves were gentle and soft. Hitting himself on the head, Taijin sighed, and lay back down on the bank. The soft cut grass gently cushioned his head as he watched the stars dance, lighting up the midnight sky.

"Haha."

Jolting up from his position immediately, Taijin looked around frantically. He murmured to himself in confusion.

"I thought I heard a voice…"

"Haha."

A soft, feminine laugh could be heard echoing from under the ocean. Taijin slowly walked towards it, taking a deep breath as he did. The laugh was unfamiliar to him, even though he had known so many girls in his life. It was a sweet and cute laugh, yet it had a sense of malice and cruelty behind it. Although it was simply a laugh, Taijin never heard a laugh that scared him so much.

The soft, cold waves wrapped around his feet as he entered the shore, hoping to find the source of the laughter. As he began to walk further deeper into the ocean, he noticed a girl who was seemingly standing on top of the water a few meters in front of him.

She wore a short, frilly black dress with silver highlights. Her black hair was neatly tied into twin tails, with red hairbands holding them together. She had two red armbands which had a scarlet shine under the moonlight. Taijin was quickly captivated by her most striking feature – her left eye was black, whereas her right eye was red.

Standing elegantly on top of the water surface, she stretched out her hand to Taijin.

"Taijin Sakamoto. Do not forget your responsibility. Remember who you have to protect. By protecting those closest to you, you will become stronger."

Her voice was similar to Kosetsu's – monotone and emotionless. However, it resonated with Taijin, shaking his body with each word spoken. He gulped as the girl continued to talk.

"You cannot be afraid to take risks. You cannot change the world without getting your hands dirty"

She gracefully turned her back to Taijin with one beautiful spin that caused gentle ripples in the water underneath her. As the ripples continued to expand, the water that was once a stunning blue turned into a bloody red.

"Kosetsu Yukimura. Grind coleslaw. Mina Takahashi. Mitsuo Kimura. Those names will become very important to you very quickly. If you forget, for even a second, there are dire consequences."

Taijin stood in disbelief as the girl hovered above the ocean of blood. It was horrifying, yet breathtakingly beautiful at the same time. The girl's reflection upon the surface of the sea was crystal clear, not faltering to the ripples waving through it.

"I'm almost out of time. I'll give you one more name to remember before I go."

The girl in black elegantly raised her hand and snapped her fingers. With the sound of the snap echoing through the ocean for what seemed like an eternity, Taijin's heart suddenly began to beat at an incredible, unnatural force. He was sweating intensely, and his vision began to blur. Collapsing under the pressure that he felt coming from nowhere, Taijin fell to his knees helplessly as the girl approached him. She graciously strolled across the water, and leaned in to his ear. Taijin was petrified, and was frozen in fear as the girl whispered to him an unfamiliar name.

"Kirami. Kirami Hatake."

* * *

"Wake up, Taijin."

Kosetsu woke up the sick boy, who was in the bed of his dorm room after an eventful night. It was nearly noon, yet the blinds blocked any light from entering the room. His eyes flickered as the gentle, emotionless voice called out to him.

"E…eh..."

"So you're awake at last."

Taijin sat up, and scratched his head violently. He thought to himself

"Geez, what a seriously messed up dream…"

About to get out of bed, he noticed another girl's head leaning on his lap. He slowly sat up, careful not to disturb her. Stuttering, he murmured

"M-Mina?!"

Kosetsu put her hand on Taijin's shoulder, gesturing him to move quietly.

"Don't worry so much about her. She just passed out waiting for you to wake up."

They both leaned over her, and admired her innocent sleeping face. Despite being so ridiculously active and hyper all the time, she slept soundly. Covering half of his face with one hand, Taijin gently rotated his body to face Kosetsu

"What happened last night?"

"You lost consciousness in the middle of the battle. We abandoned the battle and brought you home."

"You abandoned the battle?! But what about-"

"Don't be a retard. You think we can just keep on playing while our housemate, let alone operator, passed out on the floor? Besides, even if we did, we would eventually run out of ammo without our operator to supply us."

Taijin sighed in disappointment. He redirected his gaze to the sleeping girl next to him. Her long, red hair was covering her sleeping face. Noticing Taijin's attention to Mina, Kosetsu giggled to herself approvingly. After a short period of silence, Kosetsu questioned Taijin about the events happening yesterday

"So, why did you pass out?"

Upon hearing the question, Taijin instantly let out a long sigh. He put his palm on his cheek, and gave Kosetsu a worried look.

"If I knew, I wouldn't be failing Gunpla Battle class. It happens to me all the time when I play gunpla battle."

Kosetsu's eyes flickered with illumination. Her gaze turned from curious to serious, and began to further question Taijin.

"Ever since the beginning?"

"Yeah, from my first ever gunpla battle."

"But it's only when you play gunpla battle right? You don't randomly pass out on a daily basis right?"

Kosetsu was firing question after question, making it more like a formal interrogation rather than a friendly conversation. She blankly gazed into Taijin's eyes, which were weary and drowsy after a terrifying nightmare

"'No…I don't think."

"So when you watch it in television or something it doesn't matter right? It's only if you're actually physically there right?"

"No. It's just when I'm playing gunpla battle."

Kosetsu smiled, and whispered to herself

"Like I thought..."

She reached out her arm and grabbed his shoulder. She gave him a warm, reassuring smile

"Don't worry. I know what's going on. It's the plavsky particles inside the gunpla battle machine. They do something to the bodies of certain people who are sensitive to the plavsky particles. And you just happen to be one of those people."

With a confused look on his face, Taijin asked

"Hey, are you sure you know what you're talking about?"

Kosetsu giggled at him once more.

"Idiot. Of course I know. I was one of these people too."

After staring at each other for a few seconds, Taijin returned the favor by laughing wildly at Kosetsu's response. Despite the loud laugh, Kosetsu remained unfazed, and Mina was oblivious to the entire event.

"You have got to be joking right? There's no way you and I are the same. I was barely able to stand in front of the battle machine yesterday while you were there cutting the enemy zaku's up with your pimped up exia as if they were butter!"

"I didn't say I'm like you. I said I _was_ like you. Now can I finish my explanation?"

Taijin snickered at her, and crossed his arms. Kosetsu coughed, and resumed her elucidation of the situation.

"Well there isn't a lot more to say. Scientists have been researching this for ages, but they haven't found anything yet regarding the Plavsky particles. PPSE won't say anything about the entire subject. For some reason they've been keeping their lips extremely tight about the entire situation. The only response that the public has gotten is that the plavsky particles may have some unexpected side effects on some people, but that's about it."

Taijin wasn't surprised at all by that remark. He knew that PPSE, despite being ridiculously famous for inventing gunpla battle, has several conspiracies. Why did they not apply the plavsky particle to other industries? Why are they so secret about the production of plavsky particle? He disliked PPSE's lack of communication with their fan base, and their extremely undisclosed policies.

His father had several cases on PPSE, being a world-famous super detective. However, each time he would come back empty handed. He even considered breaking into PPSE's battle system factory to see what they've been hiding so desperately the whole time. But without special permission given by the government and his superiors, PPSE owned land is a forbidden area to enter. It doesn't take a world class detective to figure out that something is up with PPSE.

"The scientists have temporarily dubbed this as Plavsky Particle Disorder before they can know what's up for real. Like I said they've been looking into people like you for ages and they still have no idea why some people can spend hours playing gunpla battle whereas others can barely stand in front of the machine. It's an extremely rare case that someone has Plavsky Particle Disorder though, they say that the chances are just one in one hundred million."

Taijin began to shake nervously, as Kosetsu noticed the fear in Taijin's eyes. She sighed, and picked up the pace on her explanation

"The community have called these kind of people "Pilot errors". Basically people like you who can't play gunpla battle. It was believed for a long time that pilot errors would never be able to win a gunpla battle against a regular pilot, and that they would never be able to recover from the unfortunate disorder. But this isn't true at all."

Kosetsu gently placed her hand on Taijin's shoulder, which was still quivering in fear. Her warm palm eased the trembling, as he looked her in the eyes

"Three years ago there was a girl who was diagnosed with Plavsky Particle Disorder. She was a pilot error. But after about six months of continuously losing to her classmates, she seemingly overcame the disorder. One day she stepped onto a battle machine and operated it as if she was never affected by it- destroying her surprised classmates. After that moment, she went on a winning streak that she still hasn't lost to this day, and she is known as the first Pilot esper – named the god esper"

A hint of confusion could be seen in Taijin's look of fear. As if reading through the situation completely, Kosetsu added onto her explanation

"Yeah, Pilot esper. Apparently that's the name that the community dubbed for the people who were formerly Pilot errors but overcame the disorder. The name is pretty misleading though, no powers are gained through suppressing the disorder. It's just the community's way to congratulate those who fought through it by calling them espers..."

Taijin's trembling grew weaker and weaker as the explanation continued. His breathing patterns began to regulate, to the joy of Kosetsu.

"It's not really clear how she achieved this though. It was rumored that she lived near a hobby store, and as a result several plavsky particles entered her body and her body got used to the effects and she suppressed the disorder. Or at least that was the rumor. I guess this caused scientists to assume that some people just have bodies that need to get used to plavsky particles before playing gunpla battle, but this theory was very easily disproved. Hoping to overcome their disorder and beat their friends, 8 pilot errors decided to sleep over in a hobby shop for one whole week."

Kosetsu gripped hard on Taijin's shoulder as she turned her saddened face away from his.

"None of them survived. Overcoming Plavsky Particle Disorder using a method like that has a success rate of less than 1%. Those that don't make it simply pass out, never to wake up again."

With a stare of disbelief, Taijin glared at Kosetsu. He then brought up his two hands in front of him, and stared at them. Kosetsu gently slapped his face.

"Wake up idiot. Later we found out that those 8 people were exposed to a huge amount of particles at once. That is what killed them – the flawed method. So stop worrying"

Dropping his two hands onto the bed sheets, Taijin giggled to himself. Interrupting the long explanation, he asked Kosetsu an important question

"So what are you trying to tell me?"

Gently placing her hand on Mina's sleeping head, she smiled at Taijin.

"You've been to this school for how many years?"

"Four"

"And in all four of those years you had to play gunpla battle?"

"Yeah"

After gently patting Mina's head, Kosetsu stood up and strolled towards the door. Her silky cream hair fluttered as she turned around to him before leaving the room.

"Meet me downstairs in two hours. We are going to the hobby shop. There's a certain friend I have who I think you need to meet."

Closing the door gently as to not awaken the sleeping girl, Kosetsu left the room. Sighing, Taijin looked at Mina, who was still sound asleep on his bedside. Her eyes began to gently flicker, as she leaned away from Taijin's lap

"T-Taijin..."

Rubbing her eyes, she yawned wildly. As she stretched freely, Taijin, blushing and stuttering, reached out to Mina

"H-hey. Mina. Did you fall asleep here?"

Mina's face was bright red, as she energetically turned away from him

"You freaking idiot. I was so worried. Making such a mess in an event like the gunpla fiesta. Idiot."

"Hey – hey … no need to call me an Idiot... Please don't go all Tsundere on me…"

Her faced continued to grow redder, until it reached its peak as the word "tsundere" was uttered. She rapidly turned to Taijin, who was still in bed, and proceeded to yell at him

"IDIOT! WHAT ARE YOU IMPLYING CALLING ME A TSU-"

Reluctant to say the next word in the sentence, Mina abruptly stopped yelling at the poor boy in bed. She halted her verbal assault on Taijin, and began to walk to the door. As if she had a complete changed in mood, she turned around and casually asked Taijin

"By the way, we are all going to the hobby shop in 2 hours right?"

In a panic, he hastily responded

"Eh? You heard that? I'm sorry, that must have mean we were too loud… I must have woken you or something…"

"No, I just woke up at the last minute."

Before she left the room, Mina gave Taijin a few last words

"In future, if that ever happens again, wake me up when you do, just like you did today. That pat on the head felt really nice."

Closing the door, Taijin was left to himself. He uttered

"But it was Kosetsu who patted you on the head…"

* * *

Leaning on the corridor, Taijin was waiting for Mina and Kosetsu. He was wearing a red shirt and black pants, carrying his rarely used GP base with him. His eyes were weary, and he felt like he would rather stay home. Getting some more sleep instead of going to an area with another gunpla battle machine despite what happened yesterday. The very idea of going was absurd. Just thinking about it, he let out a huge sigh.

"We're not going to play gunpla battle necessarily. I'm just bringing you to meet a friend"

As if reading his mind once again, Kosetsu reassured him of the situation as she walked down the stairs. She was wearing a black banshee shirt and a Sinanju printed skirt. She had the black gunpla holder strapped to her belt, and she was carrying her GP base in her hands.

"Hey…do you have the ability to read minds or something?"

"No, I don't. Carrying that kind of expression around, anybody can tell what you're thinking."

Kosetsu's calm yet impacting delivery of her response shook Taijin to the core. She continued to walk towards him, and placed her hand on his shoulder.

"Don't worry about it. I was once like you too. Naturally I'd be able to tell what you're thinking- at some point I was thinking the exact same thing. I used to hate gunpla battle too. But I just need you to trust me on this. Now let's go"

* * *

Kosetsu put on her char colored sneakers as she prepared to exit the building. Taijin, who was seemingly convinced with Kosetsu's explanation, sighed heavily as he followed her out of the front door.

The two highschoolers were standing in front of a large building after a short 15 minute walk. At first glance it seemed like one of those high class stores that sell overpriced jewelry. The walls were painted a clean white, and there were double sliding glass doors that led into the building. But upon closer inspection, there were glass cases that were displaying gunpla, and a banner containing the words "Masaka Hobby Shop"

Shocked at the building before him, Taijin was rather reluctant to enter. He froze on the spot at the face of the overwhelming store.

"Hey…is this really a hobby shop? This seems like a restaurant for royalty…"

Completely ignoring Taijin's lack of movement, Kosetsu calmly strolled into the store. Turning around, she intimidated him with her usual emotionless voice.

"Are you coming or not?"

The building's interior was just as polished and classy as the exterior. There were three air conditioners keeping the room cool at all times, and several shelves were lined with gunpla boxes. There were display cases of refined gunpla in the corner of the room, and the counter was neat and tidy.

Behind the counter, there was a large, muscular man wearing an apron with the logo of Masaka hobby shop. He was in his mid 30's, and had black hair and a beard. Noticing the two new customers, he leaned over the counter and called out to them in a friendly voice

"Yo, what can I do for you?"

Kosetsu responded in her blank voice as Taijin proceeded to wander off to the display cases of gunpla, wanting to inspect their quality.

"We're just here to meet a friend."

As if remembering something, the man let out a large gasp. He then walked around the counter, and proceeded to walk towards Kosetsu, who joined Taijin in admiring the exhibited gunpla.

"Could it be? You're Kosetsu?"

Reacting immediately to hearing her voice being called out by someone she doesn't know, Kosetsu turned around and instantly questioned the man's intentions.

"Who are you and how do you know my name?"

Instantly threatened by the little girl's interrogation, the man put up his arms and stopped dead in his tracks. He closed his eyes to avoid Kosetsu's terrifying yet emotionless stare and he began to laugh nervously

"Haha…I heard a lot about you from Mina just now. She told me about you, and how you destroyed so many zakus as if they were nothing. If what she says is true, you're one of the best players to transfer here in recent time"

Releasing her prisoner from her vicious stare, Kosetsu returned to observing the qualities of the gunpla being displayed. The man added onto his explanation

"I'm Masaka, the owner of this shop. Nice to meet you Kosetsu."

Leaning over to see Taijin, Masaka redirected his attention to the boy carefully inspecting the gunpla

"And this boy is…"

"Approximately 9 nub marks visible on entire model. Painted over using an airbrush. Minor details likely applied using gundam marker. Must have taken around a week to complete this High Grade Gaia Gundam…"

Placing her hand on her face, Kosetsu sighed at Taijin's lack of awareness for the situation. As if speaking for him, Kosetsu responded

"He's Taijin. Taijin Sakamoto. He's a pilot error."

The man stared at Kosetsu as if she were crazy. He sighed heavily, and scratched his beard.

"Hey…are you sure? You do realize what you're saying right…and how ridiculously rare pilot errors are?"

"Of course I do. I'm a pilot esper."

Intensifying the stare, Masaka continued to gaze into her eyes. After a short, silent staring contest, he burst out into an unstoppable wild laughter.

"Hahaha! You're hilarious... Look at him! Usually pilot errors hate gunpla and here he is inspecting them as if he were an expert! You seriously want to believe that he's –"

"I do hate gunpla battle."

Interrupting his speech, Taijin responded quickly and brutally after hearing a comment that implied that he liked gunpla battle. The thought of him enjoying gunpla battle drove him to insanity. How could he enjoy something that can easily drive him unconscious?

Sensing the drastic change in atmosphere, Masaka instantly stopped laughing. He bowed his head down, and apologized for his inaccurate statement.

"Gunpla battle robbed me of my entire life. I would never like it. But don't worry about it – it's not like you knew all of that"

"Well, I think I've said too much. I'll be heading back to work. I'll be at the counter if you need me."

As Masaka proceeded to walk back to his counter, Mina, Grind and Mitsuo bursted out of a double door in the back of the room and walked towards Kosetsu and Taijin – gleefully talking about gunpla battle as they did. Noticing the trio approaching, Taijin called out to them

"Hey guys! What's up?"

Mitsuo, noticing Taijin calling out to them, responded loudly and clearly.

"Nothing much man! Just heading out of the battle room after some intense training from Grind. Man, that guy's training is harsh…"

Completely ignoring Mitsuo's comment on his training methods, Grind rushed up to Taijin and patted him on the head. He had a large, cheerful smile on his face, as the last time he saw Taijin, he was unconscious.

"Man, glad to see you're up and going already! Mina told us how you've been all morning!"

Blushing at the comment, Mina raced up in front of Taijin and violently shook his shoulders – trying to hide her flattered expression.

"Nevermind that, look look look!"

She held up an A4 poster, advertising an event for the school. Taking the poster from Mina's hands, Taijin began to read the information off of the poster out loud.

"Raizen High exclusive, five man gunpla battle tournament. Form a team of four players and one operator and compete for awesome prizes. Takes place on May 1 until May 3. Champions get 3 years' worth of gunpla, a dorm makeover and a secured spot in one of two of the school's all-star teams, second place gets 2 years' worth of gunpla as well as a dorm makeover and third place gets 1 years' worth of gunpla. Top 5 teams all get credit from school. Sign up now, Raizen students exclusively."

Grabbing Taijin's head, Grind excitedly yelled out to him

"We should totally join this!"

Adjusting the angle of his glasses, Mitsuo cleared his throat, and added

"The extra credit would be useful too. You don't want to drop out of school because of gunpla battle class, right Taijin? Then join us."

Shocked at the comment from Mitsuo, Taijin refuted immediately

"You guys are kidding right? You saw what happened yesterday! I could barely stand in front of the machine let alone participate in a tournament! Sure the extra credit is nice and all…but at this rate I'll just be deadweight if I join…"

Kosetsu leaned over his shoulder, and reassured the group.

"Don't worry, leave that bit to me. I'll be sure to help this hopeless pilot error out."

Grind scratched his head, unconvinced of the idea. Mitsuo coughed and adjusted his glasses, looking away from Taijin. With a confused look, Mina tapped Kosetsu's shoulders.

"Tai-Tai is a pilot…error?"

Grind and Mitsuo exclaimed in surprise.

"E…EH?!"

"What…It's not like he faints in front of battle mach-"

Cutting her sentence off midway, Mina abruptly went quiet. She looked downwards to the floor… and rubbed her chin as if she were in deep thought. An awkward silence ensued amongst the entire group, as everybody watched Mina lost herself in her own train of thought. Suddenly, Mina broke the silence by screaming energetically

"AHHHH! HE'S A PILOT ERROR! HOW COULD I NOT HAVE KNOWN?"

The entire group exploded in an awkward laughter as they watched Mina react to her moment of realization. Taijin laughed along nervously – although Mina's grades are top notch, she acted like an alien. How could she not have noticed him avoiding gunpla battle machines and fainting whenever he had to operate one? Breaking the awkward situation, Kosetsu stepped forward and reassured every one of her plans.

"Don't worry. I'll take care of him"

Although her tone of voice was always the same, the group could sense an unbreakable confidence behind those words. Mina smiled at her optimism, approving of her willingness to help out Taijin. Mitsuo, concerned for the success of the recovery treatment, asked Kosetsu

"Hey…are you sure this will work? Like, do you have any experience treating pilot errors…?"

"Nope."

The entire group fell into another silence. With their jaws dropped onto the ground, the group sighed depressingly. Grind placed his hand on his face and scratched his nose

"It's hopeless…"

Mitsuo chipped in on the brooding, as he took of his glasses and began cleaning them with his school uniform

"How will Taijin enter the tournament like this…?"

Kosetsu tilted her head with an innocent expression, confused as to why the atmosphere has suddenly changed from hopeful and excited to depressed and fatalistic.

"I don't have any experiences taking care of pilot errors. So I called in a friend who does."

Right after Kosetsu uttered those words, a long, black limo stopped in front of the store. Exiting from the limo were two, tall male butlers, who opened the car door with a noble gesture. A young girl left the car, and walked towards the store entrance.

She was accompanied by the two butlers, who were loyally by her side. She was wearing a long red skirt and a white shirt. Her long, blonde hair swung as her butlers opened the door into the hobby store. Noticing the group of people as she walked in, she calmly snapped her fingers, dismissing her butlers back into the limo. Kosetsu, aware of her presence, turned to face her, and greeted her with a smile.

"Thank you for coming, Cindy."

The girl responded in a calm, contained yet energetic voice. She spoke in an accent of a noble, which differentiates her from any other girl in the city.

"Any time you like, Kosetsu. So, which one is it?"

The group, excluding Kosetsu, was staring at the girl in shock as she quickly looked at everybody. Mitsuo, putting his glasses back on, once again questioned Kosetsu regarding the plan

"So…She has experience treating pilot errors?"

After hearing those words, the girl made a quick rebuttal as she quickly marched right into Mitsuo's face. Intimidatingly, she roared

"Just who do you think I am?!"

Clearly shaken by her aggression, Mitsuo, stuttering intensely, backed off and responded

"I-I-I don't know…"

"Cinders Elizabeth La-Nicole Graham Heathers. Cindy Heathers for short."

Stepping in to stop the rising tension, Kosetsu added on to Cindy's introduction

"She was my best friend before I moved to Raizen. She helped my issue as a Pilot error and turned me into a Pilot esper."

Mina rushed up to Kosetsu and violently shook her shoulders after hearing those words. Her eyes were tearing up from joy, yet nobody understood why

"You too! You were a pilot error too?! WHY AM I NEVER ABLE TO DIFFERENTIATE BETWEEN PILOT ERROS AND NON PILOT ERRORS!? WHY MUST FATE BE SO CRUEL!?"

Gently pushing her away, Kosetsu answered

"I was one. Now I'm not. Thanks to Cindy"

Surprised at Kosetsu's shocking revelation that she is a pilot esper, Grind scratched his head and commented

"Incredible… I couldn't even tell. Cindy must have did a good job – Kosetsu fights as if she were normal"

Taijin stepped forward, and identified himself to Cindy, who was scratching her head trying to figure out who she was meant to be helping out.

"Excuse me, I'm Taijin Sakamoto. I'm the pilot error among the group."

Contrasting with her violent assult on Mitsuo, Cindy gently spun around and gave Taijin an illuminating smile.

"Nice to meet you Taijin. I'm Cindy. I'll be working with you over the next few weeks."

Kosetsu tugged Taijin's shoulders as he smiled back to Cindy's pleasant introduction.

"Let's go, Taijin"

"Eh?"

"Well we aren't going to get rid of your pilot error tendencies here, right? We are heading off to her mansion."

"EH?!"

Mitsuo, who took the poster from Taijin, read it through thoroughly.

"Hey, make sure you guys are back next week. I'm going to submit the form okay?"

Rushing in energetically, Mina shouted loudly.

"WAIT! WAIT! WE NEED A TEAM NAME!"

"That's right…let's all think of one together"

Standing around in the shop, the group all brainstormed together several team names, ranging from Dogs of Jaburo to Doodoogun. Everyone contributed several ideas, yet none of them seemed to stick, or not every person would approve of the name. After nearly 20 minutes of getting nowhere, Taijin created the foundation for a brilliant team name"

"Hey, we are dorm C1 right? Why can't we just name ourselves team Dorm C1…this is a school event after all"

Mina instantly denied the name right after hearing it, exaggerating it with an X hand gesture.

"No way! That name is never going to stick! Imaging the MC's saying "congratulations, dorm c1" that would be the most anticlimactic award ceremony of all time!"

Grind added onto the idea of naming the team after the dorm.

"It would be pretty cool if our team name tied to the dorm name of C1. After all, that's where all of the team members live, right?"

Sensing that the conversation is headed somewhere, Mitsuo continued Grind's idea and expanded on it.

"Maybe, like, some sort of hidden secret or something. Like how you take some letters from the periodic table and you can make funny stuff"

Kosetsu's eyes shone brightly as she had a great idea of what to name the team.

"Carbon. We should be called Team Carbon. After all, C is carbon on the periodic table."

Everyone in the room nodded to the idea. Mitsuo already grabbed his pen and began filling in the team name on the registration form

"A fundamental element to sustaining human life… I like it. Team carbon."

Mina laughed as she nodded, giving Kosetsu two thumbs up.

"Team Carbon huh? It almost sounds like car bun. I love buns and I love cars!"

Grind smiled at the group as everybody laughed and smiled at the new name.

"It will stick too. We'll never forget. After all, we live in dorm C1…"

Taijin clenched his fists together as he smiled at everybody in the group.

"So it's decided. Team Carbon is our name."

Everybody smiled at the new name. Mitsuo completed the application form, folding it up and putting it in his pocket. Cindy folded her arms and gleefully watched everybody sink into idle chatter.

"So when is this tournament you all need to attend?"

"Well it starts on May 1st…"

"Brilliant, we have a lot of time to work with."

Pulling out a large, expensive gold-plated phone from her pocket, Cindy marked on her calendar the day of May 1st. Looking towards Taijin, she declared

"From today, Kosetsu and Taijin will stay at my mansion. We'll be in charge of treating Taijin's pilot error. We'll be back before May 1st."

Mitsuo and Grind nodded in approval, and Mina scratched her head, replying

"Can't be helped I guess…I guess this is for the better of Team Carbon. We'll reunite soon!"

Outstretching his fist into the center of the crowd, Taijin smiled at the members of the soon to be Team Carbon. Catching onto what Taijin was trying to achieve, everybody outstretched their fists to meet Taijin's. Reluctantly, Kosetsu sighed and joined in as well. As everyone leaned in towards each other, Taijin yelled

"Team carbon on three! One, Two, Three!"

Energetically, everybody threw their hands into the air, roaring

"TEAM CARBON"

* * *

Leaving the building and walking towards the limo, the 3 high schoolers began their trip to Cindy's mansion. Suddenly stopping for a bit, Taijin asked Kosetsu a question that had been bothering him for a while.

"Hey Kosetsu"

"Yes?"

"You mentioned that the first ever person to overcome this pilot error thing was this one girl, right?"

"Yeah, 3 years ago. That would make her about as old as us right now. What about it?"

"How good is she?"

Sensing the arrival of a subject that she was very knowledgeable about, Cindy contributed to the conversation by adding on her information about the first pilot esper

"She's probably one of the best if not the best current players around. Unfortunately she disappeared from the competitive scene after PPSE made the rule where people have to compete in teams. It has been said that she has yet to suffer from a single loss ever since she overcame pilot error. She's truly terrifying."

Gulping, Taijin, who was overwhelmed with curiosity, continued to ask more about the girl. Cindy, without hesitation, continued to explain all she knew about the girl.

"The red and black dress that she wears is absolutely iconic. Her fighting style is elegant yet brutal, or so I've heard. The last time she was in the competitive scene she used a custom version of the O gundam, but then again nobody has seen her in 3 years. There's very little information about her…she's done a very good job suppressing her location. The god esper, the black and red eyed queen of gunpla battle."

Taijin's eyes widened in fear as he realized who Cindy was talking about.

"Kirami Hatake."

* * *

Author's Note : Yo! Nekronous here! It's been a really long time since the last chapter, and once again i'm really sorry - but now that exam season is over the story can now get back on track!

Anyways, more importantly, I have received a whopping 12 OC submissions for the contest! That's 12 more than I expected! Because there were so many good ones, I couldn't just pick 1 winner, so I have chosen 3 fan-made characters to appear in the story with major roles! Before I reveal the threee winners, I have to give out an honorable metion to a user who dose not want to be named , who posted an OC that was so brilliant it had to be shared.

Name : Mr evil  
Age : 666  
Personality: Evil  
Gundam: Evil Gundam

Thank you for this OC, this character profile made my day.

So now to announce the three winners of the OC contest.

The first winner is "Guest" who posted their OC on the review page! Look out for his character, Yuki Kitano, scheduled to appear in Chapter 4!

The second winner is Bronyhood of steel , who sent me an extremely detailed OC character submission. His character, Raul Machado will also appear in chapter 4!

And last but not least, the final winner is Kintoki Kin! Look out for Masato Yuu to appear in Chapter 4 as well!

Thank you so much for all of your submissions, they were all great.

I'm going to have to adjust the story a bit to allow the three OC's to have more of an impact on the current crew - but that's perfectly alright. Thank you for your patience, and a chapter will be released every Sunday as usual.

Chapter 4 - Flight , will be released on June 22.

Thank you for reading and have a great day!


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